The new shop, at 300 E. Houston St., will be open at 11 a.m. daily and stay open until about 5 p.m., Weissman said. The $8 menu of spicy red and classic green falafel with freshly baked pita and a smorgasbord of extras is the same as the first location at 3910 McCullough Ave., but the downtown spot adds shawarma for $1.

Slow-roasted, thinly sliced beef and lamb shawarma was added at the new location in response to customers' requests and to give business people downtown more protein options, Weissman said. Depending on how it's received, he might add shawarma to the Olmos Park menu as well, he said. The downtown shop will sell beer and wine when the liquor license comes through, and Weissman said he hopes to add delivery in the next few weeks.

Despite the shop's quiet opening, it's already attracted the attention of customer Kay Hunter, who works at the Alamo Antique Mall nearby. "The last real food like this I had was on the streets of Jerusalem," she said.

Weissman — who started Moshe's with his wife, Maureen, last year — said he approached the idea of opening a falafel shop for the same reason he's started other restaurant projects: to create the kind of food he likes to eat when he's on vacation. He said that falafel is one of his first stops whenever he visits New York City.

To that end, Weissman said he'll be visiting New York to eat one last time at the Carnegie Deli before it closes at the end of this year. The purpose, he said: A quest to understand and create world-class pastrami and corned beef for the 24-hour restaurant he's planning downtown.